The present invention relates to a headlight for vehicles.
More particularly, it relates to a headlight which has a reflector adjustably connected with a holder and displaceable relative to the latter by an adjusting device through an outwardly extending adjusting element.
Headlights of the above mentioned general type are known in the art. One of such headlights is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,769. The headlight has a reflector which is adjustably connected with a holder, and the holder is formed as a supporting frame. For an adjustment of the reflector relative to the holder, an adjusting device is provided which has an adjusting element formed as an adjusting screw. The adjusting screw is rotatably guided in the supporting frame and is axially non-displaceable, and it is screwed in a threaded portion of the reflector. During turning of the adjusting screw the distance between the reflector and the supporting frame and thereby the adjustment of the reflector is changed. The adjusting screw has a portion extending outwardly beyond the supporting frame and carrying a toothed wheel. Moreover, an indicating device is provided in the headlight and indicates a deviation of the adjustment of the reflector for a predetermined nominal adjustment. The indicating device has a toothed wheel which engages with the toothed wheel of the adjusting screw and is provided in its periphery with a marking. The toothed wheels of the adjusting screw and the indicating device form a reducing transmission, so that the toothed wheel of the indicating device during rotation of the adjusting screw rotates slower than the adjusting screw. The toothed wheel of the indicating device is provided on its periphery with a marking which cooperates with a scale arranged on the supporting frame. During turning of the adjusting screw the toothed wheel of the indicating device is turned by the toothed wheel of the adjusting screw and by the adjustment of the marking of the toothed wheel of the indicating device eventually available deviation of the adjustment of the reflector from the nominal adjustment provided by the scale is indicated. By means of this indicating device, the reflector can be correctly adjusted.
For providing a fine adjustment of the reflector, the thread of the adjusting screw has a small pitch. This means that during a displacement of the reflector in certain conditions many revolutions of the adjusting screw are needed. For satisfying the requirements of corresponding regulations, the deviations must be readable to a certain degree on the indicating device. It is difficult to represent the great adjusting region of the reflector on the indicating device, since for this purpose a substantial reduction ratio must be provided between the toothed wheel of the adjusting screw and the toothed wheel of the indicating device. For this purpose the toothed wheel of the indicating device must be very big, which means that the indicating device needs a great mounting space.